SeeClickFix's Citizen Relationship Management Suite (CRM) has grown substantially over the past year and a half, quickly becoming an integral part of our municipal partners' everyday workflow. The idea behind it is simple, we automate as much as possible and for everything else we built an efficient non-technical user interface. Below is a few of my favorite features the SeeClickFix CRM has to offer.

Insight:

The most recent addition to our CRM called Insight is far and beyond my favorite. Currently being beta tested with a few select cities, Insight makes it simple to pour through serious amounts of data to create charts and graphs highlighting everything from trends over time to the volume of reports.

Attaching Images:

The simple act of attaching images is a long standing municipal innovation that the SeeClickFix mobile app brought to the table. Often taken for granted these days, attaching a photo to service requests decreases the issue resolution time substantially.

Heat-maps:

The heat-map is one of the fastest and easiest ways to visualize geographical data on a map. Shown below is the density of graffiti reports in Washington DC. It's not all that surprising but if you notice at the bottom of the map, vandals tend to steer clear of the White House.

Google Maps:

Last but not least we have Google Maps. This is the ultimate in user friendliness for non-technical users. With integrated features like Google Street View it's easy to check out where you are going before you leave the office.

Thats my list, there are a lot of other features in our CRM but that's a quick snapshot of my favorites.

This week an article was posted on Wicked Local Randolph about the town cracking the top 10 of our List of Top Performing Cities. A long time ago our Co-founders came up with an algorithm (below) to allow smaller cities like Randolph and #1 ranked Tontitown (pop. 2,548) to compete with Chicago and Albuquerque (also in the top 10).

"We are using technology, data, and accountability, to improve our performances across the spectrum of government services. Our scores are positive, but we can always do better."

- Brian Howard

Randolph Assistant Town Manager/Town Clerk

Residents saw it, clicked it, and got the services they needed as part of a national program designed to help municipal departments be more responsive to problems when they arise. The town ranked ninth in the country in the time it took to respond to requests by residents for municipal services. The top town was Tonitown, AR., while Malden came in third. Randolph has logged 1,535 calls for municipal services that translated into 211 results.

On January 1 SeeClickFix and CTNext welcomed the first three SeeClickFix Fellows. Michael Kaufmann, Steven Young and Andrew Williams joined the SeeClickFix team for 6 months. During the day they work on the other side of the office from their core competencies, engineers working in biz dev and vice versa. At night they work on their products.

We are two months into the fellowship. There are 4 months left in the fellow's nights and weekend runway. After that they have been kindly offered a home at New Haven's co-working space, The Grove where they will likely continue to grow their products and figure out how to support themselves financially.

Andrew Williams hails from Virginia but now calls #NHV his home. Steven comes from San Francisco as Andrew's engineering half at http://www.PlacingLiterature.com. Placing Literature is a crowdsourcing website that maps literary scenes that take place in real locations. There are 1350 places mapped in the first six months and their core focus during the fellowship is making the database more robust. This is the first time the founders are living in the same city while working on their startup.

Mike Kauffman is developing MoVi Interactive, an innovative tech firm specializing in wearable technology and the user experience. MoVi creates applications that leverage data captured by physical sensors such as Fitbit, Nike FuelBand and Jawbone Up- to name a few. The flagship application, Fitness Faceoff, is the first full-blown fitness strategy game and is set to release in March.

"Being a part of the SCF Fellowship program will give me an opportunity to learn from active and experienced entrepreneurs. Giving me insight into the day to day operations and what it takes to run a young company. When starting a new venture, you will quickly realize that everyday presents a new "monkey wrench" - it has been reassuring to know that I have access to advice and guidance." --Michael Kaufmann

We are loving the prototype designs of Fitness Faceoff at SCF and are excited to see the beta to be launched in March.

Council Member Ben Kallos is leveraging web tools to connect with citizens in NYC's 5th District.

Kallos recently announced that his team has added a SeeClickFix widget to the Councilman's website at benkallos.com/seeclickfix where citizens are able to input service requests. These requests are monitored directly by Kallos' staff, who are excited to be up and running with the SeeClickFix CRM. Kallos feels that the 5th District will play an important role in bringing citizen engagement tools like SeeClickFix to the rest of New York City in the near future.

Kallos hosted a Google Hangout with about ten participants to announce his online constituent services, including SeeClickFix, and to discuss issues of concern to his constituents and the New York City technology community. For the SeeClickFix effort, he is building on an established program run by the Roosevelt Island Operating Corporation, which has been using the platform on the island, part of his district along with the Upper East Side, since 2010.

During the hangout, Kallos said he would like to work on negotiating a contract to implement SeeClickFix more broadly in New York City, along with other similar services. He also announced that constituents could contact him via Skype or text to a Google Voice number in addition to attending regular open meetings in his office and throughout his district. He noted that even though there is a perception about the Upper East Side being very wealthy, there are still many residents, especially the more elderly, who may have feature phones but no Internet access.

I came across this request in Holyoke yesterday, and wanted to share it as a great example of one of the thousands of positive customer experiences we see delivered by our municipal partners. Thanks for using SeeClickFix.

With pothole season upon us SeeClickFix HQ is buzzing with excitement. Every Spring we see a considerable spike in citizen engagement platform wide. Our CEO Ben Berkowitz is famous for saying "potholes are the gateway to citizen engagement" and as the data shows he is spot on. We are all looking forward to see what municipalities have in store for their citizens this year!Last year Chicago had some fun instituting the first annual "Potholepalooza" encouraging citizens to get out there and report potholes using the SeeClickFix app. Chicago IL Press Release:

Tired of Drivin ‘N Cryin’ in Traffic over the Minor Threat of potholes in the Pavement? Ready to see nothing but The White Stripeson the roadway and not worry about The Cars swerving to avoid potholes?

This weekend, if you are motorist or a Motörhead, participate in the first-ever “Potholepalooza,” the Chicago Department of Transportation’s (CDOT) call to Chicagoans to report as many street potholes as possible. Then watch the show next week as CDOT has The Cure for your Moody Blues and fills all of the potholes reported from Friday, April 5 through Sunday April 6 so that your car doesn’t do the Harlem Shake and give you Divine Fits

Heat map of Chicago DURINGPotholepalooza:

Heat map of Chicago AFTERPotholepalooza:

Champaign Illinois is off to an early start with an article published a few weeks ago informing citizens on how those annoying potholes are created and how SeeClickFix can help.

Filling potholes is a continuing process that takes place year round, weather permitting. For example, in the period between June 2012 and July 2013, Champaign filled 21,000 potholes

“I have a feeling that once spring gets here, we’ll have more than enough potholes to keep us busy,”

When Champaign residents see potholes around town they can take advantage of the public works’ department’s app SeeClickFix. The app, which launched last year, allows people to take photos of the problem. Then, it geolocates where the photo was and adds it into the database to be fixed, said Champaign Public Works public information officer Kris Koester. The resident who submits the photo will receive a notification when the request is added into the database and when it is fixed.The Daily Illini Article